Magnificent engraving of the 1661 mosaic floor map of the world in 2 hemispheresIncorporating Tasman's discoveries not otherwise published for decades

[PLAN - AMSTERDAM CITY HALL]. [CAMPEN, Jacob van].

Le pavé de la grand' sale des bourgeois. [Amsterdam, Gerard Valk, 1719]. Very large engraved folding plan comprising 1 1/2 sheets (measuring 46 x 83 cm as assembled), engraved by Danckert Danckertsz. and his father after drawings by Jacob Vennekool, including the two hemispheres of the world map and a celestial map of the constellations of the northern hemisphere (each 10 cm in diameter).

€ 2,500

Very large engraved plan showing the extraordinary cartographic mosaic floor of the Burgerzaal of the Amsterdam City Hall, designed by Jacob van Campen, with a celestial map in the centre and the magnificent map of the world in 2 hemispheres on either side. The engraving was first published in 1661, and the map shows Tasman's recent discoveries in Australia and Tasmania, and depicts California as an island. Many discoveries from his second voyage remained otherwise unpublished until the end of the 17th-century. This engraved representation is all that is left of this cartographical work of art. Wear caused by people walking on the mosaic meant it had to be restored about a hundred years later. When in turn this restoration was damaged the two hemispheres were filled in with plain marble slabs without pictorial representation.The drawing of the floor was made by Jacob Vennekool who worked closely with Van Campen, and since his drawings were first published even before the building was completed, they may reflect Van Campen's plan more closely than the finished building itself. They also, of course, show it before the alterations made at various times in later years.Slightly wrinkled in the right margin, one fold reinforced and a few tiny spots, otherwise in very good condition.Cf. BAL 533 (1st Dutch ed.); Fowler 77 & 274 (1st Dutch ed.); Berlin Kat. 2235 (1st French ed.).